PaR Systems Signs Agreement with NASA KSC for Use of Hanger N (Source: PaR Systems)
PaR Systems, Inc., a world leader in material handling, automation, and robotic solutions since 1961, has signed a partnership agreement with NASA’s Kennedy Space Center for use of the Hangar N facility and its unique Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) equipment. The NASA facility is located on the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, adjacent to KSC on the Cape Canaveral Spaceport.

Under a 15-year lease agreement, PaR Systems will access the facility immediately to begin work performing non-destructive testing, and other related aerospace, marine, and industrial product services. Initially, eight PaR Systems employees with over 200 combined years of non-destructive test engineering and inspection experience will be based at KSC to perform the work. All are NDT professionals with national level III American Society of Nondestructive Testing (ASNT) certifications, and can use multiple inspection methods.

With PaR Systems’ 52 years of experience in automation systems and its global resources, the team will be able to advise clients on the best inspection methods to use as well as how to automate those activities. Additional support will be provided by PaR’s LaserUT Center of Excellence in Fort Worth, Tex. and its Robotics Headquarters in Shoreview, Minn. (5/9)

Air Force Forecasts 80% Chance of "Go"
Weather for Wednesday's Atlas Launch (Source: USAF)
On-shore east winds will result in a small coastal shower threat. No
thunderstorms are expected. The primary concern for launch day is
Cumulus Clouds. In the event of a 24 hour delay, high pressure and fair
weather over Central Florida are expected with increasing upper level
clouds associated with an upper level disturbance. There is a small
threat of isolated coastal showers with the on-shore east-southeast
winds. (5/12)

Brevard Still the Place for Space,
Even as Diversification Grows (Source: Florida Today)
Cape Canaveral’s hold on American space launches continues to loosen as
more and more of the country’s “new space” companies choose to conduct
testing and even flights elsewhere. This week alone, SpaceX made news
about tests and launches in two states. Neither is Florida. In Texas,
SpaceX and the FAA worked through the latest stage of a regulatory
review for a potential coastal complex for launching commercial
missions. SpaceX may yet decide to develop its commercial pad in
Florida, but the firm’s not waiting around to take the steps necessary
for development of the Texas site.

In New Mexico, SpaceX signed a deal to continue test flights of what
could be a revolutionary launch vehicle called Grasshopper at Spaceport
America. The reusable booster’s next missions appear to be outgrowing
the company’s current test facility in Texas.

Florida continues competing for these kinds of projects. KSC and Cape
Canaveral remain a top contender in most commercial space launch
endeavors in development across the U.S. The spaceport here has on its
side history and tradition, existing underused facilities, and
available space-ready employees. (5/11)

A Smoother Ride for Spaceport America
(Source: Santa Fe New Mexican)
Building Spaceport America in Southern New Mexico always was a risk.
After all, no one knew whether businesses would flock to the spaceport
after it opened — and that was after spending $209 million in taxpayer
dollars to get it built. An empty spaceport, of course, would be one
with little value and no investment return for taxpayers.

We are encouraged, though, by events of recent months. First, the New
Mexico Legislature passed a law to offer liability exemption to
spaceport suppliers and manufacturers, something viewed as essential to
getting the operation up and running. Next, Virgin Galactic, the
Spaceport’s anchor tenant, successfully broke the speed of sound in a
test flight of SpaceShipTwo over the Mojave Desert, a necessary step
before the first commercial spaceflights can be launched. Those tests
are necessary before Virgin Galactic can take tourists into space and
back.

Last week came the announcement that the Space Exploration Technologies
Corp. — SpaceX for short — has signed on as a tenant. The company
already has flown two cargo spaceships to the International Space
Station under contract with NASA. In New Mexico, SpaceX will be flight
testing the Grasshopper, a reusable, vertically launched rocket that
can carry human passengers — taking off, touching space and heading
back down with passengers. The company’s prestige is important to
establishing Spaceport America as a going concern. (5/11)

ISRO Scientist Gets 2 Years in Jail
(Source: Indian Express)
A special court has convicted a senior Indian Space Research
Organization (ISRO) scientist based in Ahmedabad in an 18-year-old case
in which he and his accomplice were found guilty of criminal conspiracy
to repurchase a lens worth Rs 97,500 that had been stolen from ISRO
premises. Both have been sentenced for two years in jail, besides being
fined Rs 5,000 each. In 1995, the CBI had booked the scientist, Anang
Kumar Trivedi, and a Mumbai-based trader Jitendra Joshi in this case.
(5/12)

SpaceX Bill Headed to Gov. Perry
(Source: My San Antonio)
A proposal to temporarily shut down Boca Chica Beach during SpaceX
rocket launches is headed to Gov. Rick Perry’s desk. The full Senate
has approved House Bill 2623 by Rep. Rene Oliveira, D-Brownsville. The
beach closure bill is a must-pass piece of legislation to try to lure
SpaceX to build a launch site near Brownsville. The bill will hit
Perry’s desk sometime next week. He’ll then have 10 days to sign or
veto the legislation. Perry, who has spent time personally recruiting
SpaceX, is all but guaranteed to sign the bill into law. (5/10)

Battle Looms as Space Interests Seek
Piece of Wildlife Refuge (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
The coastal ghost town of Shiloh, where the nation's rock-star
rocketeer wants to build a space town, is for now a place of orphan
oranges, turkey tracks and lonesome tombstones. "If you've been in
downtown Titusville lately and have seen the closed restaurants and
closed banks, it's pretty sad," said refuge manager Layne Hamilton, who
supports commercial ventures that bring back space-related jobs — just
as long as they're not at Shiloh. "It's not an appropriate site," she
said.

A hike there reveals a healthy, though not pristine, natural terrain.
Live oaks, cabbage palms and saw palmettos reign once again, and sand
dunes and swales remain intact. But here and there are stubborn, old
citrus trees that still bear a rotting orange or two. And there are
family gravesites from the late 1800s, even earlier artifacts from
indigo plantations, and some prehistoric archaeological remains,
Hamilton said.

Clay Henderson, an Audubon activist and founder of the Friends of
Canaveral, said local opinion about Shiloh may be swayed by recent job
losses. But nationwide opinion about a national treasure is what
matters most, he said. He is pushing for the U.S. Interior Department,
overseer of federal refuges and parks, to take a formal role in the
Shiloh assessment and not leave that task to the FAA only. "We have no
confidence FAA will address any environmental concerns," Henderson
said. "They never met a bird they didn't want to kill." (5/10)

Astronauts Replace Pump to Tackle ISS
Ammonia Leak (Source: RIA Novosti)
Expedition 35 crew members Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn have removed
and replaced a pump on a cooling system of the International Space
Station (ISS) that may be leaking ammonia, NASA said on Saturday. The
astronauts have removed “a 260-pound pump controller box that may be
the source of an ammonia leak on the International Space Station and
replaced it with a spare,” the statement said. (5/10)

Hawthorne Mayor Wants SpaceX to Take
Over Long-Vacant Mall Property (Source: Daily Breeze)
Hawthorne Mayor Danny Juarez announced Friday that he is encouraging
SpaceX to occupy the long-vacant Hawthorne Plaza mall site. During a
State of the City luncheon, Juarez told a few hundred people that he
has been talking to the property owner and officials at SpaceX about
transforming the complex into corporate offices and homes for company
workers, who are already using the mall's parking lot. The company is
headquartered at nearby Hawthorne Municipal Airport.

The mall has been largely closed since 1999 as the city's political
factions have been unable to agree with the property owner on a plan to
rehabilitate it. "Workers can live here and walk to work," Juarez said.
"We're looking at not only developing one side of Hawthorne Boulevard,
but also the other side." (5/10)

"Gravity" Movie Trailer Is Virgin
Galactic's Worst Nightmare (Source: Motherboard)
Alfonso Cuarón made the finest science fiction movie of the last
decade, 2006's Children of Men, and hasn't directed a film since. Now,
we get the first shots of Gravity, a movie presumeably about George
Clooney and Sandra Bullock free-floating in space after an
astronautical catastrophe. Whether with SpaceX or Virgin Galactic,
private space tourism is going to refocus public attention on human
habitation of space.

This film looks certain to play off our attendant fears of entering
this new privatized space, whether the astronauts are pros or not.
Whether anyone's going to leave the spacecraft or not. It's kind of
like Open Water for space travel. It's any astronaut's worst nightmare.
And, as recreational space travel draws closer to reality, those
corporations are likely going to have to deal with assuaging those
fears all over again. 'What if something goes wrong in space?' is a
question we're going to be thinking about more often. Click here.
(5/10)

Spacewalkers Replace Pump, But Not
Sure If Leak is Fixed (Source: Space Policy Online)
Two International Space Station (ISS) crew members successfully
replaced a coolant pump in the ISS electrical system today, but there
was no sign of the leak that led to this unprecedented ISS spacewalk.
Tom Marshburn and Chris Cassidy completed their tasks about an hour
ahead of schedule today, finishing the spacewalk in 5.5 hours.

One objective of the spacewalk, successfully executed, was replacing an
ammonia pump used to cool a solar array channel that provides
electricity for the ISS. There are eight channels, one for each solar
array. ISS crew members noticed "snowflakes" emanating from one of them
on Thursday, signalling an ammonia leak. That channel had shown signs
of leaks in the past, origin unknown, but this time the amount was much
greater.

NASA decided to conduct an emergency spacewalk not because the leak
posed a threat to the space station or the astronauts, but because they
hoped to spot the source of the leak while ammonia was still being
released. That part of the assignment was unrealized. When
Marshburn and Cassidy arrived at the site, there was no sign of an
ammonia leak. (5/11)